Obama lands in Berlin for farewell visit to closest ally Merkel
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US President Barack Obama arrived in Berlin on Wednesday to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with whom he has forged a close transatlantic alliance during eight years in office that President-elect Donald Trump may now call into question.
Obama, who described Merkel ahead of the visit as his "closest international partner", will dine with the chancellor at Berlin's famous Adlon hotel directly next to the landmark Brandenburg Gate on Wednesday evening.
The two leaders, who together tackled the global financial crisis, promoted free trade and forged an international accord to fight climate change, stressed their shared values in a joint guest piece for German magazine Wirtschaftswoche. "There will be no return to a world before globalization," they wrote, stressing the benefits of a free trade deal being negotiated between the European Union and the United States.
